Into the Darkness

by xisinj64

A human boy grows up among a world that is alien to his kind. As he grows, he expiriences bonds of friendship made and unmade, expiriences joy, hurt and betrayel, all to serve a greater good, a purpose that takes him down a dark and sinistar path of life.

11. Chapter 10

Into the Darkness chapter 10,

Training days part 1.

27th February-6th March, 2894

Truth be said, their first week of training was brutal. The first day had started off easy, with introductions and a tour of the facility, and allocations of classes. What Alex noticed about the base was that, like all of the colonies he had seen, the average sized member of each species was able to use the facilities more easily than anticipated, with help from variable seating heights and rather tall rooms and doorways.

One aspect of life on the base was the dress code. Each recruit was allowed civies, or home clothes, to wear when off training hours. In Alex and Sru'sky's case however, their tribal clothing had to be stowed away for the sake of decency. Luckily, there were plenty of replicators on site which provided them with appropriate clothing at no cost. On top of this, there were two sets of 3 sets of uniform. The first was a formal set, used for special occasions, including visiting officials and parades. The second was a less formal classroom uniform. Both were made up of a light blue jacket and a collarless black shirt, with the jacket bearing the mark of the academy. Also, in keeping with sexual equality, the uniform included black trousers. The formal uniform had the addition of a hard cap, which bore the mark of the academy. The final uniform set was used for outdoor training, with multiple sets available for different environment types, including desert, jungle, snow and water.

The classes and training really started on the second day. First were the classroom courses, including military history, tactics, protocol, ranking, weapons and vehicle identification. All were rigorous, with tests being frequent in all classes. Second were the outdoor exercises, which when combined with Frosian's greater gravity, could become a form of sadistic torture. Under the blazing hot sun, or in the chill of the night, exercises of strength, stamina and endurance were held. Worst of all was that many of them were led by none other than the irritable Na'vi, Captain Gra'til.

7th March, 2894

Start of the second week, and half of the day was to be taken up by a physical exercise , led by Captain Gra'til. After a worried breakfast in the mess hall, the recruits stood by the southern gate, standing at attention before the Captain.

"You will be taking part in a test of physical strength today, in which I expect that most if not all of you will fail, so I want you to at least try to prove me wrong. However, whether you succeed or fail does not matter, at least to me, since I get the pleasure of likely seeing you screw up royal like the last group did!"

The group looked around at each other confusedly, until the Captain barked at them: "Now get your asses up that road to the mountain face, and run all the way, NOW!"

In a panic, the group took off, staying in ranks to avoid being punished with further training. Unfortunately, this meant the smaller species had to work harder, including Alex and Quirinth, the latter of which was muttering many venomous curses about the captain which are best left undisclosed.

After a mile, which took the group 5 minutes of running, to the expense of the smaller members, the platoon stopped before a steep rock face.

Which happened to be a 300 metre steep rock face.

"You have got to be shitting me!" Exclaimed a physically destroyed Quirinth, as she stared up at the seemingly endless climb. Beside her, Alex was using all his unspent energy to remain standing against exhaustion and the added gravity. Not surprisingly, every recruit was gaping at the challenge.

Even the Cybertronians were concerned, evident by Trion muttering to a fellow mech: "I can't do that, I just can't, its impossible."

From behind, Captain Gra'til roared:

"NOW, this cliff shall be your test each and every week from now on. Every week your physical stamina shall be tested, by how far you can climb up the cliff before giving up. You are given no equipment, and shall use only your strength to climb. Rescue drones shall catch you should you fall from a dangerous height at a high speed, but that is the only assistance you get!" He looked over the recruits, some of whom were turning around to the rock face to get a second glance. "ANY QUESTIONS?"

Slowly, one Vulcan raised her hand. Gra'til pointed a long blue finger at her: "Yes, what is it?"

She spoke: "Do any different circumstances apply if one has a fear of heights, such as myself?"

A tense silence followed, during which the Captain slowly walked over to her. No one dared look at them both, in fear of ensuing the captain's wrath further. The captain slowly bent down to her level, and whispered:

"Is that so? A fear of heights? Well, let me make clear what circumstances apply in that case." As he prepared to speak again, Trion and the other mechs made a smart move, and lowered the volume of their internal audio systems.

"NO SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR ANYONE, EVEN IF YOU'RE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS, YOU WILL STILL DO THE CLIMB!"

The Vulcan woman, and the other organic recruits, winced at the loudness of the Captain's roaring proclamation, of which the echoes were still detectable.

"NOW, if there are no other questions, GET GOING! STOP AFTER FOUR HOURS! MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!"

4 hours later, mess hall, lunchtime.

"What do you think crawled up the Captain's ass and died?"

This was voiced by Alex, who was struggling to lift his fork to his mouth because of the agonizing pain his fingers and arms were in. On top of this, he was massaging a developing bruise on his side.

"I bet you he enjoys our pain, something which I would normally respect, but not now. Ow." Added Quirinth, as she lifted her glass of water to her lips, which hurt her arms slightly.

The four were now sitting together at a table in the mess hall, each sporting various injuries from the previous exercise. On top of Alex and Quirinth's minor wounds, Sru'sky had fallen hard on her back, which she was no nursing from the constant aching all over it. She also had scratches on her arms and legs from her particularly bad tumble near the end of the exercise. Trion had taken damage also, as he had dented his armour on his left arm and side, when he landed on it after a ledge he was climbing collapsed.

Sru'sky spoke in a grumpy tone, unusual for her: "I don't have hope for him easing up on the training."

As Sru'sky predicted, the training did not ease up.

If anything, it became much harder.

By the end of their fourth week of training, the four had grown used to being absolutely exhausted and battered after each day, organic and cybertronian alike.

Luckily, these four weeks allowed the group to gather companions, who either shared their interests, or their hatred of the Captain.

There were many notable people they grew to know. One of them was a brown skinned human, named Lanver Kones. A loyal friend, and a prankster also, he had a skill which attracted much attention and laughter. He had the skill to mimic almost any sound he hears almost perfectly, either immediately after hearing it, or after a brief practice. He got on well with all four of the group, as he was a very sociable person.

Another friend was a mousy voiced Grey called Mir'minsk. She was one of the most intelligent recruits at the base, and was always among the top 5 scorers in the tests. She had a knack for planning and solving problems, although she suffered slightly from her species' small stature. She was a rather shy person, and go on reasonably well with all four of the group, but more so with Sru'sky, who had been the first to make an effort of creating a social bridge.

After four weeks of training, almost everyone on the base was eagerly awaiting the first leave time, in just one week. The training was divided into semesters, three per year, over two years. Each semester was 11 weeks long, with a one week break between the 5th and 6th weeks. Basically, each semester was 12 weeks long.

However, the half semester break came after routine testing in all areas, routine twice each semester, with the end of each year testing everything the recruits had learned so far.

29th March

It was now the end of Tuesday, and the results of the written tests were, well, varied.

"That test was easier than anticipated." "No shit, tin-head. You have a digital memory, you only need to learn something once. We all have to go over it again and again to make it stick." "Perhaps if you tried harder to learn first time, then you wouldn't have to revise later." "Maybe you should just show me your paper if your so smart!" "Will you two shut up, you're gonna give me a migraine!"

The four were walking along a designated path, arguing over the last test they had that day, weapons technology and maintenance. Trion had found no trouble with the test, and the other three were jealous of his robotic learning abilities.

As the four rounded a corner, they were joined by both Lanver and Mir'minsk, and in a deep, love doctor style voice, Lanver called to them: "This is the love docter, mm, yeah come over here and meet me my friends." Knowing that only one person could speak like that, Sru'sky pointed out the two, who had joined them on the right.

"How did you do on the written tests this morning guys?" Asked Mir'minsk.

"Could have been worse, of course lead head here had no trouble memorizing the answers." An irritated Quirinth pointed out. Alex then added: "Well our worst exam is next, the climbing test. Running, jumping, weapons and combat I can do. But last time I climbed that cliff, I only got a third of the way before I fell. I couldn't feel my fingers for hours after we finished! I've still got the scars!"

To back this up, Alex held up his hands, showing the healed cuts and slight scarring. Sru'sky then looked to the cliff: "As long as Captain Hard-ass isn't there, we should do alright.

"Don't stand around, get going!"

Begrudgingly the group made its way to the cliff, silently muttering insults or worries [Sru'sky: "Me and my big mouth." Alex: "If the droids somehow don't catch me, I'll aim for the Captain's head."]. As they reached the rock face, the Captain pressed on: "You will be working in groups of three for this test! Pick your partners, and get your asses up that cliff! Move it, move it, move IT!"

The recruits breathed a slight sigh of relief. Working in teams meant that some of the group could go on ahead whilst the rest rested before catching up, and then switching. Quickly, the group split into threes, many of which were gender based, as happened with the 6 companions. Trion, Alex and Lanver formed an all male group, whilst Sru'sky, Quirinth and Mir'minsk formed an all female group.

Within 10 minutes, all of the groups had climbed at least 100 feet each. What many of the groups had done was send their lightest teammate ahead to find the safest section of path up, while that member rested while the other two caught up. In the female group of the 6, Mir'minsk had been sent ahead each 100 feet, and right now the other two were climbing to meet her. Beside them, Alex had climbed ahead, while Lanver and Trion made their way towards him. Trion's excessive weight required even more careful path selection, and the need for rock stability meant there were less large openings or cracks to gain a handheld on.

Within an hour, the strain began to take its toll, as each group just reached the halfway point at 150 metres. One team, with one human and two predator members, lost their grip, and all of them fell, to be caught by the droids hovering nearby. The teams had been connected by ropes, so if one fell, they all fell.

Due to one member's weight needing extra caution, Alex, Trion and Lanver had fallen behind slightly, whereas the group with Quirinth, Sru'sky and Mir'minsk had surged ahead, giving a 10 metre gap between the two. At this point, Alex's patience snapped, and he turned to Lanver and Trion below: "Alright, we want to win this, the path ahead looks safe for 50 metres, let's just go straight for it!" Lanver shared Alex's determination: "Yeah, I want to give them a run for their money." Trion had been silently scanning the path ahead, and concluded that there was only a slight chance of a collapse, and nodded in agreement. At this, Alex turned back, and began climbing at what would have been an equivalent of vertical sprinting.

Above them, Sru'sky was slowly climbing, watching Mir'minsk pulling ahead to scout the terrain stability. Beside her to the right, a group was noisily making its way up. She turned to look.

And saw Alex climbing at a terrific pace, with Trion and Lanver only 2 metres behind. At the speed they were going, they would pass them by and beat them to the top.

Above Sru'sky, Quirinth looked at the reckless climbers: Boys never seem to think do they?

Her conclusion would be proven within a few metres.

As Alex climbed up the cliff, he saw that a ledge was only 40 metres away, and that the way looked rather easy up the cliff. With his remaining strength, he began to climb further, eager to have a small breather before the final climb. As he gripped the next crack in the cliff, some rock pebbles came loose, and fell onto Trion's face. Trion immediately shook his head to clear out the pebbles, and looked up to see some cracks forming where Alex and Lanver were climbing. Before Trion could warn them, he felt the cracks spread to the rock face under him.

As Lanver climbed, his fingers now in agony, he heard a rumble just below him. Looking down at Trion [big mistake at over 150 metres up], he saw the rock face give way. As the cliff collapsed beneath him, Trion let loose a panicked metallic roar, and began to tumble down the slope.

Unfortunately, the collapse spread to the rock face under Lanver and Alex too. Like dominoes, the two humans suddenly lost their climbing surface, and were soon falling, Alex screaming as he plummeted past the other teams, and Lanver maintaining enough composure to yell in a comical black voice: "I'm comin' Elizabeth!".

Luckily, the droids were close by, and they rescued Alex and Lanver just 50 metres from the ground. Trion's extra weight however meant that the droids could only slow his descent, and he hit the ground hard, though not enough to cause injury, just pain. Alex and Lanver soon joined, as the droids dropped them on a sandy slope, which they rolled down in a rather comical fashion, before rolling rather painfully into Trion's body.

Above them, the teams looked on at the recent losers, counting as the second team today to fail, despite having a lead in the climb before their fall. Now it was Sru'sky, Mir'minsk and Quirinth who held the lead.

At ground level, Captain Gra'til stood over the groaning mech and two humans: "Complete crap, all three of you! You picked the unstable path to climb, and you lost because of it! Let's at least hope you can learn from your mistakes and the other teams that make it!"

As the captain trudged off, Alex looked up at the cliff, seeing that Sru'sky, Quirinth and Mir'minsk had just reached the top, just ahead of the other teams. As he lay there in pain, he did not bother trying a witty response to the captain, due to both humiliation of the fall, and being unable to move his arms.

By the end of the week, the group of four plus their 2 newer friends were ready to kick back a bit. The fiasco of the climb had caused Trion, Alex and Lanver to be a topic of some gossip around the base. By Friday, the gossip could be heard whenever the three entered a room, whether they were alone or together.

It was lunchtime, and Alex had resorted to trying to ignore the gossip, which needless to say was failing. As he tried to eat his lunch, a small cheese and ham sandwich, he heard the group behind him speaking in hushed voices:

"Yeah, you should have seen them, the Mech went first, and then the two humans fell screaming like little girls just after. I just wish I'd had something to take a picture."

As Alex listened, he failed to notice he was crushing his sandwich. As he sat at the table simmering in annoyance, a group of rather burly looking humans came over to their table:

"Hey kid, you made us humans into a laughing stock at this base. Why don't you go back to school or something, you don't belong here."

Alex made a witty comeback: "Why don't you go back to school, they obviously let you out far too early to have learnt anything."

Within seconds Alex was yanked out of his seat, and was now staring into the bristly face of the tall Asian man he had just insulted: "That does it kid! You got till three to take that back, or I'll grind your face into the floor!"

"One." As the conflict went on, stares drew from all over the luncheon.

"Two." The atmosphere tensed, and to everyone's surprise, Alex spat in the face of the man.

"THREE!" As the man began to throw a punch, a tuna and pickle sandwich splattered onto the side of his face.

At the table, Quirinth smirked at her good throw. That smirk quickly vanished though, as the burly man grabbed a lump of mashed potato, and launched it her way. Quirinth ducked, as well as Sru'sky, only to have it splatter on the back of a Romulan's head two tables down. He retaliated, with a projectile of mincemeat, which accidentally hit Trion.

Within a minute a full on food fight had erupted. An all manner of foodstuff was hurled across the room, while participants and caterers alike ducked to avoid being hit. Had the fight drawn on for longer, then no winner would have emerged.

It lasted just 4 minutes.

As the cafeteria doors burst open, all food throwing ceased, and all of the recruits in the room froze at the sight of Captain Gra'til. The captain silently scanned the room, a vein becoming visible on his forehead, before saying in an oily, threatening voice:

"Who is responsible for starting this?"

Immediately, someone shoved Lanver an the brutish man forwards, and Alex stumbled forwards to join them, having been shoved by another unknown. The captain looked at their food coated bodies:

"Follow me to the Commander's office." As he turned, a small smirk was playing on the corners of his mouth, while the other three followed in fear.

"-complete disregard for the order that we aim to maintain in this establishment, if I must reaffirm my point sir. Punishment must be dealt immediately!" As the captain finished ranting, Alex had whispered to Lanver: "Why am I even here? That brute was the one who yanked me off my feet."

As the captain calmed himself, the commander, a middle aged asian human, looked on in stern interest: "From what I have heard from them, and from you captain, the food fight was started by Lanver there trying to stop Harrison from assaulting Alex. If anyone is most at fault it is obviously Harrison, for assaulting a fellow recruit is a serious crime here at the academy. Also, for those others who took part in the food fight, I merely think them cleaning the hall today and laps of the base will be suitable punishment."

The captain spluttered, visibly disappointed that such a minor punishment was to be carried out for what he considered a heinous crime. Instead of ridding the academy of two reckless recruits and a troublemaker, only the troublemaker would be expelled.

Realizing that the punishment he and all the others would receive was not so bad, Alex raised his hand: "Can we go now sir?" The commander did not look up from the paperwork he had returned to: "Yes, yes, go ahead. Just be sure to take your punishments, and have an enjoyable leave starting tomorrow.

Later that evening, the group of food fighters were trudging back to their barracks to rest and pack for the start of leave tomorrow. A week off would be plenty of rest for them, particularly if it was with family and friends.

Mir'minsk was speaking: "One hour cleaning the cafeteria, and 10 laps of the base, all the day before we leave! What's worse is that I think that food fight made me develop a fear of potatos."

Beside her, all of the other five exchanged WTF looks at her last comment, but otherwise agreed with what she said. Sru'sky spoke up: "At least our exams this semester went rather well for all of us. None of us failed anything, not even the physical tests."

"That's a surprise when you remember the spill you boys took on Monday." At Quirinth's wise crack, the girls started laughing, while the boys became embarrassed, with Trion's face radiating more heat, and the two humans faces becoming darker.

Alex then spoke up: "Whatever, a pass is a pass. Though I would have preferred not to have fallen." Sru'sky spoke again: "It is fortunate that we can go home for a week, I miss hometree and my family and friends there."

"Same here." Alex added in agreement. Looking at the other four, Sru'sky asked: "Where will you all be going for the week?"

Lanver answered first: "I've got a room in my parent's apartment on Earth, in a city called San Francisco. Nice place, very hilly though. Great view of the sea. Here, I'll show you." He pulled out his data stick, and switched on his camera files. Instantly, a holographic screen was projected, showing each photo. The golden gate bridge, still in great condition. The extended California Redwood forest on the north side of the bay. Looking at the pictures, Alex thought to himself that he needed at some point to visit Earth, which was where he was actually born.

As Lanver pocketed his data stick, Mir'minsk pulled out her's and said: "I've got an apartment with some friends on Sirius F, in the Sirius system." Switching on her camera files, she showed pictures of a rocky, mountainous world, with unusual black plants in the forests and parks. A shot of the sunset from the apartment showed the binary blue main sequence and white dwarf stars eclipsing the city's skyline.

Trion projected images of his apartment on Cybertron directly from his eyes, showing images of an all metal, cold yet unique world. Further photos showed the streets below chocked full of mechs and femmes, with the occasional organic species among the masses.

Quirinth showed images of her homeworld, which had been terraformed millennia before to mirror the predator homeworld. Her pictures showed H'nossos as a jngle world, not too dissimilar to Pandora, and also images of a cityscape from her family's estate in the hills.

Alex and Quirinth did not have any photos of hometree, but luckily trion had thought ahead somehow, and photographed their home during his brief stay there after the arena escape. It showed a crowd of children around a storyteller, the canopy of the rainforest below hometree, unnerved faces staring at Trion [the camera], and also a shot of Alex and Sru'sky standing by their parents, Firi'sry and H'nuptec.

Looking at the last photo, Mir'minsk commented: "Ironic, no matter what species you are, there is always one bigger than you." As she said this, she looked at herself, then Alex and Lanver and Quirinth, then Sru'sky, and then finally Trion.

Alex then finished by saying: "Well, if you're small, people underestimate you, then you gain an advantage in whatever you are doing at the time."

Little did they know that Alex had carried out this wisdom minutes before meeting them to walk back to their rooms.

Across the barracks area, the Harrison sat down on his bed, still annoyed that the kid had gotten off easy. He himself had been put on bathroom duty for the first week back after the week break, and he did not like it. As he sat down, he noticed a small slip of paper on his pillow. Picking it up, he saw written in cursive handrwriting:

"Look out your window for a surprise, from your secret lover."

Feeling suddenly excited, he leapt to his feet, and made his way to the window, searching the promised surprise.

Only to hit the hidden tripwire as he stepped up to the window.

As he looked out the window, the tripwire triggered a dart gun to the left of the guy. The dart fired towards the wall, and hit a hidden paint cannon.

Outside the room, a boom was heard, and within seconds the door exploded open, and the occupant emerged covered from head to toe in blue paint, along with his room, and Harrison roared in anger, not knowing who did this.

Alex never did say how he got into the dormitory, but it showed to Alex just how far a simple act of bribery could get you. All he sacrificed was his desserts for the first week back at dinner, and in exchange got the access codes to that dorm, which changed every half semester. Also he was doing that dorm a favour, as the guy had been a bit of a prick anyway, as the one being bribed had said.

The next morning, the recruits lined up at the landing platform, bags in tow. The shuttles would ferry recruits to the major spaceports, as where recruitment shuttles had departed. As Lanver lived on Earth, and Mir'minsk lived only 17 light years from there, they would ride the same shuttle as Alex and Sru'sky, bound for the Na'vi capital Keletari, Alpha Centuari. From there, they would take the required flights to their worlds. Meanwhile, Quirinth and Trion would board two different shuttles, as their worlds were further away.

As Quirinth and Trion began to walk to their shuttles, they bade farewell to the other four: "See you guys in a week!" "Perhaps you can visit Cybertron at some point!" Soon after, the two humans, the grey and the Na'vi boarded their shuttle, although Lanver and Alex hurried on board more quickly when they noticed Captain Gra'til prowling about the landing deck. The two human males still worried that the captain may somehow seek revenge, and did not wish to risk spending a week at home with a severe injury or something.

Within minutes all the bags were secured in the lockers, and the passengers took their seats. Many mutters floated around the shuttle as the engines started: "Geez, five weeks on this world, I'll probably feel like a feather on Earth." "I think I've gotten shorter in the higher gravity."

The takeoff was standard, the antigravity field perfectly making the craft's effective weight almost negligible, meaning the rockets need only fire to provide motion. Within 20 minutes the shuttle was preparing for the jump to warp speed, its dark energy amplifiers charging. Outside the ship, invisible to the eyes, the bubble of warped space-time formed, and the space in front of the shuttle contracted, while the space behind expanded. Like a surfer on a wave, the shuttle rode this distortion at speeds up to 50 light years an hour, whilst inside the bubble, the craft was not moving at all in relative to the space inside.

A few hours later, and the shuttle was approaching for landing at Keletari. Alex had fallen asleep on the flight, the hum of the ship's systems lulling him into deep slumber. However, the loud sound of the ship's landing gear deploying jolted him out of sleep.

Wiping off the slight stain of his drool on his trousers, Alex looked out the window to see the landing deck just 50 metres below.

Before he knew it, he was standing beside the shuttle bound for Pandora, with Sru'sky beside him. Alex was so tired at this point, he figured that being unable to recall getting off the interstellar shuttle was due to his body being on a sort of auto-pilot. After the checks performed by the security guard, Sru'sky sat next to Alex on the flight, this time Alex gave Sru'sky the window seat. Deciding to sleep off this flight too, the 15 year old brunette let out a yawn, stretching his tan skinned arms before examining the bags under his eyes. As the ship powered up, Alex once again fell asleep.

2 miles from Hometree

"Why did you wear your camouflage uniform again?"

"Because my other stuff is either torn or needs to be washed, now at least ask a different question before you drive me mad."

"You could have at least worn something more suited to the tribal clothing."

"Hypocritical for you to say that, isn't it?"

"…Shut up."

Alex smiled smugly at another debate won.

The two siblings had hired a taxi for a flight to hometree, and back at the week's end. Each had brought all of their belongings, which suffice to say could all be carried in a backpack each. Thankfully, all clothing made outside of tribal weaving now used synthetic materials, which all could not crease, and could fold up into miniscule spaces. Unfortunately, they still needed to be washed when dirty.

As their home came into view, Alex thought to himself: Nothing's probably changed, and at least here the rules are more lenient. Maybe I can get a good night's sleep for once, because those beds on Frosia are utter shit.

Minutes later, Alex was engulfed by Firi'sry, whilst Sru'sky was squeezed in less than a second later.

"Need, air." Amused at her son, Firi'sry released him and Sru'sky. Gazing proudly at them both, she commented: "Five weeks, and you look different already. Sru'sky, you're just as beautiful as ever, I expect some of the men have taken notice." Sru'sky smiled bashfully, and replied: "It is not just the Na'vi that look at me that way." "What?" Alex snapped his head to Sru'sky in surprise: "You mean you get attention from all sorts of guys, yet I can't get a single girl to look at me in an interested way!" Sru'sky looked at both him and Firi'sry: "My looks must come from a good source." Firi'sry blushed at her daughter's compliment, but turned at a new voice:

"What's this I hear about men interested in my daughter?" H'nupted walked towards them, beaming with joy at their return.

"Father!" As Sru'sky greeted him, H'nuptec laid a hand on both Alex's and Sru'sky's shoulders: "Sru'sky, you look just like your mother, except a tad shorter. If what I hear is true, you have potential suitors at the base." Laughing, Sru'sky embraced her father. Alex smiled, knowing that he would perhaps never have as high a position in H'nuptec's heart as his own flesh and blood daughter, but nonetheless was still beloved.

For the first evening, Alex and Sru'sky retold their experiences of the first five weeks, from their arrival and the location, to the final week. The two used their data sticks to show photographs and films of the base and the exercises. Unfortunately, Sru'sky had the gall to show the embarrassing final climbing exercise. Alex shrunk down as his parents watched him, Lanver and Trion take a massive fall off the cliff. His parents however, were able to see the skills they had both developed, regardless of their failures. H'nuptec commented: "Alex, you could probably join Sru'sky when she is to choose an Ikran. The climb I mean, of course you can't tame one of your own."

Alex nodded at this, not wanting to even try to tame one anyway.

As Alex settled down in his hammock, he looked up at the ceiling, and fell asleep, hoping to gain some rest before returning to the base for the second half of semester.

Guys, sorry I never left a author's comment at the bottom of my other chapters. This is my first story. As for slow updating, I'm in a boarding school, and I have recently been busy with work. Hopefully my school's Easter Holidays, 2nd April to 24th April, should give me plenty of time to continue. I am going to skip forward n the story in terms of times, as up till now I was establishing OC background stories. Please leave reviews, and any suggestions for improvements will be greatly appreciated.